Anthony the Great

Saint Anthony the Great, Father of all Monks

Saint Anthony the Great (251–356; feast day: January 17), Christian saint (also known as Saint Anthony of Egypt, Saint Anthony of the Desert, Saint Anthony Abbot, Saint Anthony the Anchorite, and given the name The Father of All Monks) was a leader among the Desert Fathers, who were Christian monks in the Egyptian desert in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. He is probably the most famous and well known of the ascetics and was an inspiration to the formation of the first Christian monasteries.

He was born near Heraclea in Upper Egypt. In 271, after the death of his parents, he sold all that he had, gave the proceeds to the poor, and withdrew into the desert. He did not allow anyone to enter his cell, and whoever came to him, stood outside and listened to his advice. He continued in this condition of solitary worship for 20 years in an abandoned Roman fort in a distant part of the Sahara Desert. The one day he emerged, with the help of villagers to break down the door. By this time most had expected him to have wasted away, or gone insane in his solitary confinement, but he emerged healthy, serene, enlightened and seemingly otherworldly. Everyone was amazed he had been through these trials and emerged spiritually rejuvenated. He was hailed as a hero and from this time forth the legend of Anthony began to spread and grow.

His biography was written by Athanasius of Alexandria and titled Life of St. Anthony the Great. Many stories are also told about him in various collections of sayings of the Desert Fathers. Some of the stories concern the Temptation of St Anthony; tales are told of demons who appeared to Anthony in the wilds on more than one occasion and attempted to lure him from his ascetic practices. These stories are perpetuated now mostly in paintings, where they give an opportunity for artists to depict their more lurid or bizarre fantasies. Many pictorial artists, from Hieronymus Bosch to Salvador Dalí, have depicted these incidents from the life of Anthony; in prose, the tale was retold and embellished by Gustave Flaubert. Probably he spoke only his native language Coptic, but his sayings were spread in a Greek translation. He himself left no writings.

Saint Anthony the Great probably lived about 105 years and died in the year 356. He instructed his followers to bury his body in an unmarked, secret grave, lest his body become an object of veneration.

Not to be confused with Anthony of Padua (1195–1231).

External Links

• Article on St. Anthony the Great from the Catholic Encyclopedia
• A Hagiographic Account of the life of St. Anthony from the Coptic Church